Techmeme
September 18, 2020, 12:35 PM

Top News

Steve Kovach / CNBC:
Commerce Department announces that it will ban US downloads of and business transactions with TikTok and WeChat on Sunday  —  - The Commerce Department announced it will ban U.S. business transactions with China-owned social apps WeChat and TikTok on Sunday.
Ina Fried / Axios:
Source: an agreement between ByteDance and Oracle includes creation of an oversight board approved by the US government, and a continuous third-party audit  —  An agreement between TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance and Oracle includes a variety of concessions in an effort to make the deal palatable …
Washington Post:
New York Times:
CNBC:
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Google pulls India's Paytm app from Play Store ahead of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament; sources say for repeatedly violating its gambling policies  —  Google has pulled Indian financial services app Paytm from the Play Store for repeatedly violating its policies.
Michael Steeber / 9to5Mac:
Apple says it will open its online store in India on September 23  —  Apple announced today that it plans to open its online store in India on September 23.  The expansion will bring direct sales and an improved shopping experience to customers in the region for the first time.
David Jeans / Forbes:
CEO of fraud detection startup NS8 arrested by the FBI on charges of misleading investors who invested $123M in his company, a deal in which he earned $17M+  —  The CEO of a startup that sold fraud prevention software is facing fraud charges after he was arrested Thursday by the FBI in Las Vegas.
Richard Lawler / Engadget:
Epic says it will shut down Fortnite: Save the World on macOS on September 23rd  —  Epic and Apple's squabble will pull the plug on Mac support for this PvE version of ‘Fortnite.’  —  Fortnite: Save the World — a castle building players-vs-zombies version of the game that preceded …
Cade Metz / New York Times:
24 of 35 living American Turing award winners, including Alphabet chair John Hennessy, endorse Biden, citing the harm of Trump's immigration policies to tech  —  They said the administration's policies were driving away technology talent and could do long-term damage to their industry.
Jack Brewster / Forbes:
Hugh Son / CNBC:
Neobank Chime raises $485M Series F at a $14.5B valuation; CEO says the startup will be IPO-ready within the next 12 months  —  - Chime, the start-up that delivers banking services through mobile phones, has closed a fundraising that values the company at $14.5 billion, CNBC has learned exclusively.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Interview with Ilkka Paananen, CEO of mobile game maker Supercell, on Tencent's majority stake, attempting to create another hit franchise, and team building  —  Mobile games maker Supercell has been one of the great, understated, breakthroughs of the European startup world.
Rob Walker / Marker:
Despite a shift to remote work amid COVID-19, Slack is having a hard time living up to its hype as layoffs/slowed hiring among its clients undercut its billings  —  In the war for the remote office, why isn't the hyped messaging app pulling a Zoom?  —  It's no secret that the arrival …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
NBCU told Roku that it plans to force Roku to remove access to NBCU's TV Everywhere channels on its platform as early as this weekend, amid Peacock negotiations  —  Late Thursday, Comcast-owned NBCUniversal notified Roku that the media company plans to force Roku to remove access …
Bloomberg:
Sources: CFIUS sent letters to Epic, Riot, and other game companies asking for information about their data security protocols involving Tencent  —  - Cfius sent letters to gaming companies about data security  — Move is part of heightened scrutiny on Chinese companies
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
A bug in the first public release of iOS 14 is making the default browser or mail app settings reset to Apple's Safari or Mail when the device reboots  —  One of the new features in iOS 14 is the ability to change the default email or browser app to a third-party alternative such as Chrome, Edge, or Outlook.
Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer:
German media: a patient died after ransomware attack forced a hospital to send them elsewhere; hackers backed down after police told them target was a hospital  —  A person in a life-threatening condition passed away after being forced to go to a more distant hospital due to a ransomware attack.
Jeff Grubb / VentureBeat:
PS5 will launch on Nov. 12 in North America, Japan, Mexico, AU, and NZ for $500 for Blu-Ray version and $400 for Digital Edition and then elsewhere on Nov. 19  —  Sony provided more details about the upcoming PlayStation 5.  During a video event today, the company explained what you can expect in terms of a PS5 release date and price.
Ari Levy / CNBC:
Unity has priced its IPO at $52 per share, above the expected range, that would initially value the company at $13.7B  —  - Unity is selling shares at $52 a piece in its IPO, CNBC has confirmed.  — The company raised its range on Wednesday to $44 to $48 from $34 to $42.

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Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC: